[Fezzik]

Oh, I’m aware it can happen. I’ve been around people who OD or go super deep in K Holes, and been to more than enough festivals for one lifetime, but those extreme side effects don’t seem to be all that common with mushrooms. I don’t even know anyone who knows anyone who knows anyone that has had a psychotic break tripping. The dearth of information online leads me to believe it really is extremely uncommon.

[abletonlive]

> I don’t even know anyone who knows anyone who knows anyone that has had a psychotic break tripping.

It's not that uncommon. If you don't believe me, volunteer for a medical tent for any music festival where psychedelic use is rampant. You'll get psychotic breaks all night.

[RoyalHenOil]

I feel like you two are talking past one another.

One of you is saying "mushrooms" and the other is saying "psychedelics".

[abletonlive]

I'm saying all psychedelics commonly cause psychotic breaks. I've had to assist people on mushroom induced psychotic breaks before. I love mushrooms as much as any other hippie and think they should be legalized but don't agree with the whitewashing that is happening in the psychedelic activist circles. Let's not swing the pendulum too far in the other direction - they should be taken seriously just like any other mind altering drug.

[pmoriarty]

What do you mean by "psychotic break" exactly?

[abletonlive]

It means psychosis. I'm confused about what you do not understand about this. It's losing touch with reality, knowing that you're in a situation or place which you are not - losing the ability to determine what is real or what is not real. Once you are out of this state you realize that you could not have been trusted to make any decisions about reality (whether you were where you thought you were, whether what you were doing was safe, whether what you believe was true). It's basically sleepwalking while on psychedelics. Once you're done with the psychosis you might not remember most of it.

If you get caught in this state at a music festival and restrained (sometimes restrained to a gurney if you are caught in a camping festival like Electric Forest and they determine an ambulance is not necessary) you get sent off via an ambulance where they will feed you benzodiazepines/antipsychotics and hold you at a hospital until you are back to reality, incurring a pretty hefty ER bill. This is not just a bad trip that someone can talk you down from. This is literally losing control of your entire being. It's like having someone else at the wheels. Short term psychosis.

That's how ALL big music festivals in the US handle psychotic breaks. They won't let you just go around the festival endangering yourself and being a menace to the rest of the patrons.

Not a great place to be in, but I've seen it enough times to know it's not uncommon.

[washadjeffmad]

Just weighing in, but sampling for these events isn't necessarily applicable to the general population.

Whether that's because people whose brains are more likely to experience psychosis are more drawn to music festivals, whether it's a supply-trust or dosage issue (lower purity or higher potency compounds, goers don't know what they took or how much), or that prior exposure to cultural lore like "drugs makes people want to fly" is influencing them, I don't know.

Age is also a known factor - schizophrenia is more likely to emerge around the age of maturity, often associated with stress and drug use (again, may be wet roads causing rain - people self-medicate even if they don't realize it), even though, statistically, "college" would be just as likely, and it often happens as a psychotic break, the way you described. I worked with young musicians for many years and saw it happen regularly enough - no psychedelics required.

So the fact that everything you mention happens is evidence, but of what? That's a harder question to answer.

[danielbln]

I'm also curious if OP talks about actual medical psychotic breaks or "bad trips", which may overlap but don't have to.

[abletonlive]

I'm talking about medical psychotic breaks.

[pmoriarty]

Please define that.

[plugin-baby]

> I don’t even know anyone who knows anyone who knows anyone that has had a psychotic break tripping.

I’ve witnessed it. There might have been weed and/or alcohol involved as well.

[amanaplanacanal]

In my experience weed with psychedelics is a horrible combination. I know a lot of people do it, but yuck.